


Outside the Vault

by junjun_pon



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Dark, Drama, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Peril, Post-Apocalypse, Romance, Survival, Travel, Violence, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-08 13:13:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1942491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junjun_pon/pseuds/junjun_pon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off the popular game “The Last of Us,” after being left behind during a mass-evacuation, Nino struggles to survive against the infected and other humans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Necessity

        His brown eyes are met by those of a decaying corpse of a man positioned on the cold stone floor only an arm’s reach away. Its eyes are glazed over, clouded; the body has been rotting and withering away for almost a month. Maggots peek out from the putrid flesh, waving their creamy white bodies, wishing the world a good morning. He stares at the corpse endlessly with a numb gaze until his stomach moans loudly in a low rumble. He stands up and stretches his short, lean body. His chocolate colored hair is short and greasy, choppy from being cut haphazardly by too dull of scissors. He adjusts his dirty shirt and ripped jeans and heads for the corner where there is a pile of open cans. Beans, peaches, sauce—he checks each one; they are all empty. A small whimper comes from his lips and he sits next to the pile, his back against the wall, his small hands gripping his knees until his knuckles turn white.

        “I need to go out again,” he whispers softly. The sound of his own racing heartbeat drums in his ear. He feels sick. He winces when his stomach groans once more, this time louder, echoing in the space.

        The room is small, layered wall to wall with small locked boxes of which he has no key for. It is his home. He calls it “The Vault” because that’s precisely what it is. A safety deposit vault in the basement of an old bank, on top of which are fifteen floors of apartments abandoned in the evacuation.

        After checking his shoelaces, he grabs a small hunting knife and rests his petite hands on the handle of the large heavy door. He takes in a deep breath and turns toward the rotting body on the floor, “I’ll be back safe, Satoshi-kun…wait for me?” He smiles softly, carefully opens the door, and slides out, shutting it tight behind him.

\-----

        He stays low to the ground and makes as little noise as possible as he glides up to the fourth floor; the floors below are completely ransacked already. He hears the hissing and clicking of infected within the walls of the rooms, but no sign of breathing human life. The infected are mindless, unpredictable at most; they aren’t people any longer.

        He reaches a long hallway of doors on the fourth floor. He contemplates the door on the right end of the hall, but instead moves to the room at the center, knife ready, and stomach punching his insides for food.

        “The center has less chance of a trap…” he whispers almost inaudibly to himself. “If they come out at one time...I can still run free,” he continues. Hand on the door knob, he turns it painstakingly slow, pushing the door open, trying to avoid creaking that may attract the attention of anything in the room. It is a studio apartment. It is dark, but he moves in just the same, shutting the door behind him. He tries to hold back his fear of the two misshapen figures standing, twitching in what little light that is coming through the filthy, clouded windows. The kitchen is to the left of the door, but completely uncovered. A move straight there would mean trouble.

        “I have to take them out…” he whispers, slightly panicked. He hates dealing with the infected, he hates killing, but it’s a necessity.

        He slyly scoots around behind a small couch and against the side of a bed that separates him and the two infected on the other side. He keeps his head low and moves alongside the bed until he reaches the end where a large trunk rests, blocking the way like a wall. He thinks the plan through. If he attacks now, he’s outnumbered.

        “What would Satoshi-kun do….?” he says very softly, biting his lip. Reaching an arm blindly under the bed, he feels around for anything to use as a distraction. He touches something glass and quietly pulls it out—it’s a shade for a light fixture. The bathroom door across the room from the end of the bed is open; he throws the glass. The piece shatters on the doorframe, catching the attention of the infected. They let out a horrid screech and begin to shuffle over to the mess.

        He grips his knife hard, heart racing. As soon as they are in the clear, he rushes out and knifes them both in the back of the head, their rotted, oozing bodies tumbling to the floor.

        Thankful, the small man wipes off his knife on the nearest piece of cloth—bed sheets—and begins digging in the cheap white cupboards in the small studio kitchen. To his relief, the cabinets are stocked well, though with strange health foods in cans that he’s never heard of. Regardless of his aversion to the mysterious canned kale, he takes it in a backpack that was lying on the floor, half-filled with clothing already.

        Most rooms he visits are destroyed or half-empty. Many contain the dead, or the infected, but not a living soul. The dead man he calls “Satoshi-kun” was the last of the living he interacted with.

        Feeling safe in the room, and after filling up on some stale crackers, he searches around for anything of use.

        “No guns…knives?” he says at a normal tone, opening small drawers in the kitchen. He finds nothing but butter knives. He glances quickly to the front door, but looks away, not paying attention. The door is ajar.

        Sighing from lack of kitchen weaponry, he climbs over the bodies of the infected and into the rather large bathroom. He sets the heavy backpack on the floor in order to search for extra supplies. Near the end of his search, he catches his reflection in the mirror. He touches the glass, making streak-marks with greasy fingers.

        “I don’t think I’ve seen you before…” he says. His lips curl into a slightly amused smile. “You’re so thin!” he says, eyes lighting up. “I’m jealous!”

        He hears a creak in the main room. He turns his head sharply and looks around from the bathroom, but after finding nothing, he returns his attention to his mirror image.

        “Do you eat this kale stuff? It looks gross…Satoshi-kun might eat it though” he says, furrowing his brow. “Do you know where I can find bread?” He laughs rather loud as if he received a response from someone, “I don’t know of any bakeries near here though.” He tilts his head to the side and continues with his random banter, “You’ll take me there? You’re so helpful!” He smiles big, squinting his eyes shut.

        A piece of broken glass hits against the bathtub on his right side and makes a slight, but curious sound. He opens his eyes and stares at the shower curtain that is closed. He takes out his hunting knife again and moves toward it timidly.

        He reaches out his hand to open the curtain and suddenly a hand grabs him by the leg, pulling him backward. Falling forward, he hits his head sharply on the edge of the bathtub and lands face down on the floor, blood beginning to trickle out of his nose. He tastes blood in his mouth and his vision is blurry. He can barely make out the pattern of the tile on the floor.

        A heavy body crawls across his back and pulls his head backward by his hair.

        “Who the fuck are you?” a voice yells. A sharp blade is placed against his neck. He’s still swimming in the daze caused by his fall. Slowly his vision returns and his hearing clears up, but not after the blade is held tighter to his neck. He panics once he comes to.

        “Tell your fucking name!” the voice yells again, pulling his head back further.

        “N-Ninomiya…Kazunari…” he says, struggling to get his words to come out due to the pressure against his throat.

        “Who do you work for?” the voice says harshly.

        Work for? He doesn’t work for anyone.

        “N-no one,” Nino replies.

        “Don’t lie to me you little shit!”

        “No one! It’s just me! There’s no one else!” He couldn’t get a view of the person because of his position. “It’s just me and the infected…”

        “I find it hard to believe someone as foolish as your scrawny ass can be the only one here.”

        The blade against Nino’s neck loosens slightly.

        “It wasn’t always just me though…”

        The blade tightens again.

        “How many have you killed?” the voice growls, seething.

        “W-wa—“

        “How many people have you killed?”

        “N-none! Just infected…just infected…please!”

        The blade is removed from Nino’s neck and the heavy body lifts off his.

        “Get up,” the voice says passively with a sigh.

        He struggles to get up because he hit his head pretty hard and is dizzy.

        “I said get up!”

        Nino forces himself up and turns around to greet the person that almost slit his throat open. A man stands before him, decently dressed in dark colors of black and green with a shiny silver watch clinging to his left arm. His features are sharp, dark, with short black hair shining.

        “I’m up, I’m up…” Nino wipes the blood from his nose on his pants and stares at the man timidly. “Will you at least tell me your name?”

        “Why should I?” the man sneers.

        “Because I told you mine! And you tried to kill me!” Nino replies.

        The man chuckles darkly, “Matsumoto Jun.”

        “Jun-kun then!” Nino smiles a bit. He is relieved to meet another living person after months of isolation.

        “No…Matsumoto, please…”

        “Okay, Matsumoto-san. When will you be leaving?” Nino asks abruptly.

        “Leaving?”

        “Yeah, you’re here to take my food right?”

        “No…”

        “Then why are you here?”  
            “To find my own food?”

        Nino decides to question Jun all the same.

        “Who do you work for?”

        Jun rolls his eyes, “Myself.”

        Nino pulls out his hunting knife and holds it in the direction of Jun, “When you roll your eyes like that, it makes me not trust you.”

        “And you think I trust you?” Jun replies, annoyed.

        Nino’s eyes narrow, “Who do you work for?”

        “No one.”

        “How many have you killed?”

        Jun smirks, “Plenty, so knock this shit off or you’ll be my even number 50.” He walks out of the bathroom and looks through the cabinets for food. Nino follows him like a puppy despite the warning.

        “There’s none left. I have it all.” Nino looks triumphant, that he’s competent enough to get his own food without help.

        “Then I’ll try other rooms…” Jun is beyond annoyed now by Nino’s chatter.

        “Other rooms might have infected in them though. It wouldn’t be good if you let them wander the halls. There’s enough already. They’re tricky, and they bite. If they bite me, I’m a goner, ha ha…” Nino blabs.

        Jun, ignoring Nino’s mindlessness digs in the back of cabinets and finds other food that Nino could not reach. He gathers it in a sack hanging off his left shoulder. Meanwhile, Nino continues to talk.

        “…They like loud noises too! You know I’m only 25, but people tell me I look like I’m a teenager. It upsets me sometimes, but people tell me not to worry, it’s a good thing I guess. Oh, did you know there are four types of infected peoples. I don’t like the ones that run. They scare me. They look like normal people too. They’re fast and they bi—“

        “Will you shut the fuck up!” Jun shouts, cutting Nino off.

        Nino’s eyes widen and he looks apologetic, “I’m sorry I just haven’t spoken to—“

        Jun turns around and cuts him off again, “Just...shut up, please.” He searches a cabinet above the fridge and finds some rum and whiskey. While taking it down, he mutters, “I should have slit your throat when I had the chance.” Jun puts the two bottles in his bag and adjusts it on his shoulder.

        Feeling shut down, Nino just puts his full backpack on and stands there quietly.

        “Where do you stay?” Jun asks, disregarding his rudeness to Nino earlier.

        Nino doesn’t speak.

        Jun frowns, “What, you can’t talk now? When I ask you a question?”

        “You told me to shut up, you asshole,” Nino retorts.

        “Well aren’t you a little smart ass. You may talk, just don’t rant, for the love of god,” Jun says. “You’re noisy, and I already know what’s out there in the world. And it sure as hell looks nicer in here than it does out there.”

        Nino crosses his arms.

        “Where are you staying?” Jun asks again.

        After a bit of thought, Nino speaks, “In the vault.”


	2. "Satoshi-kun"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino tells Jun about "Satoshi-kun."

        “A vault? What, are you a corpse?” Jun says, allowing Nino to lead him out into the hallway.

        Nino has a delayed reaction as if he were thinking. “Practically…” he replies.

        After a short time of walking to the basement, luckily avoiding any dead along the way, they reach the giant silvery door of the vault. Jun readies his knife just in case there is a surprise on the other side.

        As the door opens, a rotten stench fills their general area and Jun’s face scrunches in disgust. He covers his nose and mouth with his left arm, “What the fuck is that smell?” Nino seems to not notice the smell and avoids a reply. He slips in through the narrow opening. The door was heavy enough to fear opening it too far in case of emergency. Jun follows in after Nino and feels nauseous as the dead stench intensifies.

        “Satoshi-kun, I’m back!” Nino says cheerfully. He sets down his backpack and begins unloading some of the items in the corner with the empty cans. “I brought you kale. Do you know what that is?” he says examining the can.

        Jun pushes the door shut and keeps his mouth and nose covered.

        “Who’s Satoshi?” Jun asks. He lays eyes on the decayed body at the back of the rather small metal room. “Holy shit, there’s a dead person in here…what did you call him?”

        Nino acts as if there isn’t anything wrong with the body, “Ah, this is Satoshi-kun. Satoshi-kun, this is Matsumoto-san.” Nino smiles cutely. As expected, the body lies there motionless.

        “Ah…you do know he’s dead, right, kid?” Jun asks carefully, hoping he would not puke.

        “Yeah…I know…but I should still take care of him…” Nino replies.

        “You should toss the body. It reeks!” Jun says, not even bothering to move any closer than the door.

        Nino looks at Jun with disbelief and a little anger, “I couldn’t just throw him out!”

        “Well, it’s just a body…” Jun says. He grumbles, “This isn’t healthy, kid.”

        “I couldn’t just throw him out!” Nino repeats, “I need to bury him…but—“

        “You don’t need to bury this guy, just toss him out,” Jun says, getting irritated that Nino isn’t understanding him.

        “You don’t understand…” Nino says a bit somber.

        Jun is annoyed again, “No, you don’t understand. This is unhealthy. I’m surprised you’ve lived this long and that his maggots haven’t started eating you!”

        “I wanted to bury him a long time ago, but I can’t do it alone,” Nino says, shaking because he’s upset. “Everyone’s gone, and there are infected outside, I just—“

        “Who is this Satoshi-kun guy anyway?” Jun asks. He was slowly becoming accustomed to the smell in the room.

        Nino calms himself and hesitates. “He was my boyfriend.”

        “Boyfriend?” Jun says with disbelief. Nino nods and sits on the floor next to the body.

        “I met him in a park right after I graduated from high school. He was painting a bird I think,” he says with a small smile, “He looked poor as dirt, but he was actually pretty wealthy.”

        Jun holds in a chuckle and listens further, feeling he’d lend Nino his ear after insulting Nino’s decision about the dead man’s body.

        “For almost six years he spoiled me rotten. I never had to work. I could just stay at home, do what I wanted to do while he worked and spoiled me some more,” Nino says softly, staring at the decaying body longingly.

        “Spoiled? I could see that,” Jun mocks. Nino ignores Jun’s stab and continues.

        “He never asked anything of me. So I felt that I should take care of him in return…” Jun opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off.

        “When they evacuated this city, they made it clear that anyone left behind was left behind. The military would come back for no one,” Nino says, “Satoshi wanted to stay and ride out whatever was going on. This apocalypse or whatever he called it.”

        Interested, Jun keeps quiet and sits on the floor, his back flush against the vault door.

        “I wanted to believe we’d be safe, so I said nothing and let him protect me like he wanted.” Nino paused and took a deep breath. “But in time, we ran out of food and water, so we decided to leave our home and go into the city. The government said nothing about what was occurring, so naturally, we were shocked when we arrived and saw the infected. We ran for hours until we ended up right outside of this building. We stopped to take a breath and I got attacked. It was one of those fast ones. I almost didn’t see it in time, but I managed to run a little before it jumped me and grabbed my leg. Satoshi came after me. I tried to fight the infected person off, but I got bit on my leg instead. Satoshi grabbed the infected person off me and got bit on his wrist.”

        Confused, Jun tries to interrupt, but Nino continues.

        “From what I remember, he managed to disable the creature and picked me up. I fainted or something. Then I remember we ended were here, in this room, and Satoshi had already tried to bandage my leg and was struggling to cover his arm. In return I helped him, but he looked ill. He left to find food and told me to stay here, so I did. He had food and weapons when he got back, but he looked tired and just awful in general.” Nino looks down at the body beside him.

        “We were only here for a couple days, and in that time, it happened…”

\-----

        “Satoshi-kun, are you sure you’re alright?” Nino asks softly, crawling over to Ohno who is looking at the unwrapped wound on his wrist.

        “Don’t worry, Kazunari, it’s probably just infected. I’ll go looking for some medicine tomorrow, okay?” Nino nods and looks through the food and opens a bag of potato chips and eats some.

        “How’s your leg?” Satoshi asks, giving Nino a warm smile. Nino smiles back, “It’s okay. It still hurts though…” They sit in silence for a while, letting Nino think while he munches the potato chips.

        “Ne, Satoshi-kun?”

        “Hmm?”

        “Those things outside…are they really zombies? Like in the movies?” Nino asks.

        “I don’t know. Maybe,” he replies.

        “We both got bit, so…does that mean we’ll turn into those things too?”

        “I don’t know, baby. Maybe.”

        Nino panics a bit but tries not to let it show. “If it’s true…then we’ll just lose our minds together in here, right?”

        Satoshi winces when he moves his arm, “Probably. If it’s true.”

        Later,when Nino lies down on the cold floor to rest, he tries to ignore Satoshi’s pained sighs and the sounds of the infected outside clawing at the door every time they make a noise during the night time hours. He finally falls asleep.

        The next day Satoshi begins to act vicious and almost violent toward Nino.

        “Satoshi-kun, when can we leave here?” he asks hugging Satoshi. Nino is pushed away.

        “We’ll never be able to leave here. We’ll just die in here,” he says harshly.

        Shocked that Satoshi pushed him in such a way he takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry, I—“

        “It’s all your fault,” Satoshi says angrily, cutting Nino off rudely, “I should have just left you there and saved myself. Now I’m gonna die because of you.”

        Nino just stares at him in disbelief, tears forming in his eyes. “Why would you say that, Satoshi?” he asks.

        “Because it’s true” Satoshi says, scoffing.

        “What’s wrong with you? You never speak to me like this!” Nino shouts, his voice cracking.

        Ohno charges up to Nino and slaps him hard across the face. Nino hears his teeth gnash together on impact and loses his balance. He tumbles to the floor.

        “I saved your fucking life, don’t mouth off with me…” Satoshi warns.

        “I’m sorry….I’m sorry…” Nino whimpers, to get him to back off, which he does.

        Satoshi drags himself over to the other side of the room and hisses while trying to re-bandage his wound. It seems he gave up on finding medicine.

        Utterly heartbroken, Nino crawls to the wall opposite Satoshi and near the food. He lies down, facing the wall. His face hurts, his leg hurts, and Satoshi hates him suddenly. He feels a bruise forming on his cheek and cries quietly.

        By the time evening comes, the infected are already clawing at the outside of the door, trying to turn the handle. Nino still rests near the food, wondering if Satoshi is feeling any better. His stomach growls loudly so he sits up and reaches for a can of corn to open. He begins opening it when Satoshi stomps over, “Who said you can eat anything?”

        Nino stops opening the can with a hunting knife Satoshi brought back the day before.

        “But I’m hungry…I haven’t eaten all day,” he says innocently. The bruise on his face is dark and menacing.

        Satoshi frowns and tries to take the can away, but Nino holds on tight. They struggle, finally sending the can and knife flying to the wall, spilling onto the floor next to the other cans.

        This sends Satoshi into a rage. He pushes Nino down and grabs his throat and squeezes. Horrified, Nino tries to fight back, “Let…let me go!” he manages to squeak out, kicking and squirming.

        “Who said you could fucking eat anything?!” Satoshi rages, tightening his grip around Nino’s neck. Air supply totally blocked off, Nino panics and starts reaching out for anything to grab to get Ohno to release his grip. He feels a handle of some sort and grips it as hard as he can, still struggling for air, and jams it upward through Satoshi’s neck and head. Nino, about ready to black out, feels Satoshi’s grip lets loose. His body falls limply on Nino’s.

        A sudden rush of air fills his lungs and he gets light headed, his ears ring loudly, his vision blurred. Once his vision clears, he sees it. That handle belonged to the knife, and it was lodged in Satoshi’s neck.

        His eyes widen, unable to look at the man’s unmoving body on top of him. Slowly his clothes became saturated with blood. He lies there unmoving for hours.

        “Satoshi-kun?”

\-----

        “I never thought it would end up that way. He wasn’t the same person any more. I blamed myself for his death. But over time, I realized that if I hadn’t done anything, he would have tore me to shreds and I’d be dead,” Nino says letting out a sigh. “I don’t blame him for what he did while he was infected, because that wasn’t him. Satoshi was a kind man, and he loved me more than his own life. That’s why he protected me all that time.” Nino stares at the corpse beside him fondly.

        There is silence in the room for a while until Jun speaks up, “I don’t mean to change the subject. Such a tragic story, but…you said you were bitten?”

        Nino nods and pulls up his pants leg to reveal a grotesquely scarred wound. “I never got any symptoms, but we were both bitten by the same infected person…”

        “So you have immunity then,” Jun says softly, but wildly curious.

        “I guess so,” Nino replies. He looks depressed from having told Jun his story, but in turn, Jun admires Nino’s strength and maturity over the chain of events.

        Not knowing how to reply to such a thing, Jun changes the subject once again. “Would you like me to help you bury him?” Jun says nobly.

        Nino’s eye light up, “Really?”

        “Sure.”

        Nino smiles brightly and looks down at the corpse, “You’ll be able to rest peacefully now, Satoshi-kun~”

        Jun chuckles nervously. He isn’t sure how to deal with Nino’s habit of talking to the rotting carcass. Instead of saying something rude, Jun keeps his mouth shut and lets Nino dote over his lover’s corpse.

        Jun disappears for almost the rest of the day looking for a shovel and somewhere nice to dig a hole for Ohno’s body. Meanwhile, Nino carefully wraps Ohno’s body tight in his blanket, wiping his hands off after touching the slimy body.

        Jun opens the vault door and peeks in, “Are you ready? It’s clear out here for now.”

        Nino smiles softly and nods.

        Jun lifts the body by the shoulders and Nino lifts from the feet. They slowly make their way outside and back around the other side of the building where a shovel rests stuck in the ground upright at the foot of the shallow grave.

        “I couldn’t dig it too deep because I was running out of daylight…” Jun says remorsefully.

        “It’s alright,” Nino replies, just glad to actually put his beloved Satoshi to rest.

        They set the body in the hole and Jun begins to fill it in. Nino gets on his knees and pushes some dirt into the grave with his hands. Within ten minutes the grave is completely covered and Jun drags over a beautiful granite rock. Nino looks confused.

        “I thought it could use a gravestone, you know?” he says, sweating from all the manual labor.

        Nino smiles, “It’s perfect.” He is relieved that there are no infected in sight considering it’s been swarming the past few months. He settles on the ground behind the rock Jun rolled over for the gravestone.

        Jun waits patiently for the waterworks to begin, but it never does.

        Quietly Nino rests his forehead on the rock and closes his eyes. He stays like that for a moment, letting the last of the sun beat warmly on his back.

        “Now you can rest with dignity, Satoshi-kun. I’m sorry that I didn’t turn with you, otherwise we would have died together like lovers should,” Nino whispers.

        Jun wanders off to give Nino privacy when he hears him speak.

        “I may be weak, but you’ve given me the strength to continue fighting for my life. Thank you for loving me. I’ll always love you.” Nino smiles and stands up, brushing some dirt off his filthy pants.

        He stares at the grave a bit longer and then wanders back to the vault to find Jun sitting quietly staring at a photograph.

        “What are you looking at?” Nino asks.

        “This god awful picture I found in your backpack,” Jun replies, chuckling to himself.

        Nino stomps over and takes the photo, “It’s not awful. I think it’s cute!” It’s a photo of Nino and his beloved Satoshi in their Holiday sweaters. “We waited for hours to get this picture taken!” Nino whines.

        “He looks like he was a funny guy,” Jun says.

        “Naw, I’m funnier than him,” Nino says. “You’re making fun of the dead already?”

        “Not at all, he never claimed to be funny at all.”

        “Ah, well he looks nice enough.”

        “Yeah…”

        “No offense, but I’m surprised you’re not crying or anything,” Jun says crossing his arms. Nino sits in front of Jun and sighs lightly.

        “I’ve already cried so much for him. He wouldn’t want to see me cry. If he’s stuck somewhere as a ghost or something…I’d want him to feel he could move on without worrying about me. So I don’t cry anymore.”

        “That’s an odd way of looking at it,” Jun says, stretching out his legs. His back was tired from digging the grave.

        “It makes me feel better looking at it like that,” Nino says with a smile.

        “Whatever works, right?” Jun says stretching one last time before rising to his feet. Nino nods and stays seated.

        “So I suppose you’ll be leaving then?” Nino says. “

        Yeah…I won't stay here overnight. I need to be on the move,” Jun replies. He picks up his backpack, “You can keep the stuff you found and I’ll be on my way.”

        Nino looks disappointed.

        “What? You want to come with me?” Jun asks, hoping Nino would say no.

        “If I may,” Nino says with a smile, “I don’t want to stay here forever! Satoshi would tell me to go with!”

        “Eh? But you’ll slow me down!” Jun complains.

        “Oh come on. You’ve helped me out so much. Just let me return the favor!” Nino replies stuffing the photograph and some other things in his already full backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.

        “I can’t take care of you while we travel, you know. You have to be able to fight on your own…” Jun says, wary on letting Nino travel with him.

        “I’ve been feeding myself all this time, haven’t I?”

        “Well yes, but I almost killed you…” Jun retorts.

        Nino heads to the big vault door, “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me turning on you.” Jun remembers that Nino is immune and thinks quickly.

        “I’ll only let you come with if you don’t talk so much this time. I like to travel quietly.”

        “I’ll start now!” Nino says and goes through the door.

        “Good…” Jun says, “What do you all know about the infected though?”

        Nino is quiet.

        “You have permission to speak, kid,” Jun says rolling his eyes.

        “Not much, sir!” Nino says.

        “Don’t call me ‘sir’…” Jun says shutting the door behind him.

        “Ah, sorry. I don’t know a ton of stuff about the infected people,” Nino says honestly.

        “Well now’s the time to learn.”

        “Okay.” Nino walks behind Jun for a while until he decides to hold onto a strap on Jun’s backpack.

        “I’m not a shopping cart for you to hold on to…” Jun says swatting Nino’s hand away. Nino pouts but stays quiet. Jun seems to enjoy having a companion, but even more joyful that his companion is quiet. They finally reach the outside and step out into the street where there are scattered belongings, broken down vehicles, bodies that have been cooking in the sun and pecked at by blackbirds, and the dirt on which everything is covered.

        “You sure you want to come? I’ve seen some shit…” Jun says, warning his little, noisy companion.

        “Yup,” Nino says smiling.

        Nino subconsciously grabs onto the strap on Jun’s backpack once again.

        This time, Jun lets him.


	3. Cannibals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino and Jun travel together for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the great delay! I've been busy and lost my groove for writing. But I'm back with a vengeance!  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.  
> Leave a comment below :)

        They drift from place to place awkwardly for a week together. Jun avoids talking, and Nino will not stop talking. It’s cloudy and windy. A chill is in the air with humidity; an autumn rain will be coming soon. Avoiding towns blesses them with minimal infected encounters, though they have little food left, and their clothes are rank from sweat, rain, and mud.

        Nino holds a strap on Jun’s backpack as they walk in tandem.

        “Hey, can I call you Jun?” Nino asks, tugging on the strap. Jun is silent for a while, obviously thinking based on his quizzical expression.

        Jun frowns, “I guess…” Nino smiles in response.

        “You can call me Nino if you want,” Nino says, hoping Jun would agree. He feels as though they have bonded the past week.

        Jun stops and lets out a great sigh, “Fine, but we’re still not friends.” Nino almost pouts, but just nods. He wishes Jun would open up to him a bit more.

        They begin walking again, heading into some woods off a back country road.

        “Hey,” Nino starts, “How old are you, Jun?”

        Jun keeps walking, however, he replies quickly, “Thirty.”

        "Uwah, so five years older than me! Satoshi was older than you,” Nino says skipping a bit to catch up with Jun’s quick pace. Jun just hums for a response and continues to walk, keeping a watchful eye on the trees around them.

        In silence, they reach another road that leads to a large house. Behind it is a small lake, showing a cloudy and blackened reflection of the sky above. The sun is at their backs and setting.

        “We’ll stay here for the night,” Jun says. Nino lets go of the strap and heads to the front door. It’s boarded up from the inside. He scoots over to a window and peeks through a hole. The room is dark and still.

        “Hey, kid, get away from there…” Jun says. He changes direction and heads toward Nino.

        “I’m just looking,” Nino says. He squints to see something moving within the house. Jun suddenly pulls Nino backward by his backpack just as decayed hand reaches viciously out the hole and through the glass. Nino lets out a scream and looks up at Jun from the ground.

        “I told you to stay away. I’m not dumb, you know…” Jun says rolling his eyes and leaving Nino to watch the arm, pawing at the open air through the glass.

        “Sorry…the house just looked inviting, you know?” Nino says following after Jun, brushing himself off.

        “It’s boarded up from the inside. Probably someone got bit and went crazy,” Jun says heading toward the dock down by the lake. Nino stays quiet and follows closely, a bit jittery from the attack. He wishes Jun would at least ask him if he’s okay, but he forgets about it.

        Jun digs in the boat and then throws his backpack in, “Get in,” he says. Nino looks confused and nervous to be near water.

        “I’m not getting in there!” Nino says.

        “You’re going to if you want to live…” Jun replies, gently nudging him toward the rocking boat. The wind picks up and Jun gets impatient.

        “Come on, either you move, or I put you in there myself!” Jun barks.

        Nino pouts and skittishly gets in the unstable boat. Once he makes it in, he sits and holds onto the side. Jun hops in and begins paddling them out into the middle of the little lake.

        “Why are we out here?” Nino asks, having calmed down slightly. He still grips the side for safety. Water from the windy lake splashes onto his face.

        Jun struggles with paddling in the heavy wind, but continues regardless. “You’d rather stay on land where there are infected?” Jun asks.

        “I’d rather stay on land so I don’t barf all over this boat, you, and myself…” Nino replies. He’s far from getting seasick, but he’s always worried.

        “Well we’re staying out here for the night. I’m not risking my back just because you’re afraid of water…” Jun says cynically. Nino frowns.

        They reach the middle of the small lake and Jun throws down the anchor resting at the bow with a grunt. He wipes some sweat from his forehead and turns back to Nino, “Now, gets some sleep.”

        “Sleep? When if the boat flips and I drown?” Nino says.

        “Having an irrational fear of boats and water will just make you paranoid, just find a way to relax,” Jun says, “Go lie down.”

        Nino finds a more open spot on the boat and lies down, staring up at the cloudy sky. He hears the water slapping at the sides of boat, some of the spray coming aboard. He thinks about the time Satoshi forced him to go fishing and how he puked the entire trip. Nino smiles gently and curls up.

        Jun lies down next to him on his back, crossing his arms behind his head as a pillow. Nino closes his eyes thinks about Satoshi some more with a sigh.

        Not long after, it begins to rain and Jun groans. Nino is woken up from his daydream by more water hitting his face. He looks at Jun who seems grumpy and says nothing. It’s not until it begins to pour and Nino shivers from his wet clothes and the wind that Jun pulls a small tarp from one of the compartments on the boat. He opens it up and lies back down with it.

        “Come here,” he says strangely, as if struggling whether or not to let Nino be close to him. Nino is so cold that he complies without complaining as he normally would. Jun pulls the tarp over their heads even though their legs will stick out. Nino snuggles against Jun’s body and slowly but surely stops shaking and relaxes. He blushes slightly, but hides it from Jun. There are the sounds of the infected in the distance and Nino is glad he got into the boat. Being next to Jun, he doesn’t feel sick at all.

        “Ne, Jun?” Nino says softly.

        “Hm?” Jun replies, his eyes closed , trying not to think about the wet body attached to him.

        “Do you know a lot about the infected?”

        “I do.”

        “What are they?”

        Jun turns his head to face Nino and finds the man staring up at him cutely. Jun suppresses a blush and just chuckles. “There are so many things to k now about! I don’t know where to start.”

        “I’ve seen different kinds…like the fast ones…” Nino says. Water sliding down his face from his hair washes off some of the dirt and mud. Rain taps heavily on the tarp.

        “Well, there are four kinds,” Jun says, “Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters…”

        “Runners are the fast ones?” Nino asks.

        “Exactly, but they’re easy to sneak up on. You don’t have to stab them, you can choke them too since they’re still partially human,” Jun states. Feeling comfortable with the conversation, he flips on his side and faces Nino. “Stalkers are like runners, but they hide from you and then attack at the best opportunity. They’re very smart.”

        “I’ve never met one of those before…” Nino says, trying not to blush. He feels strange around Jun, but he won’t admit it. Instead, this thinks of his beloved Satoshi and passively participates in the discussion.

        “I’ve only met a couple, they’re tricky, but go down the same way as runners,” Jun says. “Now clickers are scary and can only be killed with a blade or gunshot to the head.”

        “Why are they called clickers?” Nino asks.

        "They make a clicking and croaking noise. The infection covers and morphs their faces and makes them blind, so they use—“

        “Echo location like bats?”

        “Exactly,” Jun replies. “They’re easy to avoid as long as you are quiet. If you get noticed, just hide. They usually give up.”

        "Oh. Well I’m good at that,” Nino says with a cute smile.

        “Just don’t let them touch you. They’re strong as all hell,” Jun says.

        “And the bloaters?” Nino asks.

        “Bloaters are a fucking nightmare, but they’re slow,” Jun says. “I’ve only seen one, but they are covered in infection…usually huge and they spit those spores that they think caused the outbreak…I guess they take a long time to develop.”

        “Spores?”

        “Yeah, I guess they form when an infected dies…the bloaters also naturally give off those spores…they wouldn’t kill you, but they’d do plenty of damage to me,” Jun says.

        “How do you know all this?” Nino asks, snuggling closer to Jun.

        Jun backs away just slightly, “I was with other people before I found you.”

        “Who were they?”

        "I don’t want to talk about it…just…go to sleep, okay?” Jun replies hesitantly. He’s hurting about someone just like Nino is and that gives Nino a bit more comfort.

        Nino snuggles against Jun’s warm body and sighs lightly. Jun ignores Nino’s gesture and rolls on his back once more, holding the tarp down over their bodies. The continuous sound of hissing and groaning from the shore puts him asleep hours later, Nino already fast asleep, a hand resting gently on Jun’s chest.

        The next morning, Nino wakes up and finds himself alone under the tarp. The sun is out and the humidity is worse than the day before. Surprisingly, he doesn’t feel sick from the boat. He thinks it may just be an ocean thing. Nino sits up and pulls the tarp off to find Jun looking at a map.

        “Where are we going?” Nino asks softly, rubbing his eyes and squinting because it’s a bit bright out.

        “To a hospital,” Jun says.

        “A hospital? Why?”

        "I’ve overheard a while ago that some doctors are working on a cure, Jun says, “but I’m not sure if they still are…I only heard about it soon after the outbreak.”

        “So we can go then? I’m immune so I could help, right?” Nino asks.

        Jun just nods, “I’ll take you there, okay?”

        Nino smiles and nods. He stands up in the boat, wobbling, and wrings out his wet pants legs that were uncovered by the tarp during the rainy night before. “How far is the hospital?”

        Jun briefly looks at the map, “It’s definitely not close…so we’d better get moving.”

        Nino snacks on some berries they’d found a few days before and waits for Jun to lift the anchor and paddle them ashore.

\- - -

 

        “It’s a clicker and a runner. I’ll take the clicker,” Jun whispers. They are crouched behind the back window to a small, two-story house in a suburban neighborhood. “Wait until I kill the clicker, then follow up with the runner when I get noticed. I’ll whistle.”

        Nino nods and takes out his knife. He and Jun are traveling together for the second week. He moves with Jun to a position alongside a partially opened back door. Jun stealthily moves into the house and Nino waits for his cue. The clicker wanders around the back side of the house; its face is contorted and left leg dragging. Its croaks and clicks are loud, but Jun stays close to the ground and goes unnoticed. The runner stands at the front of the house, inactive, unlike his clicker friend.

        Jun maneuvers carefully around a kitchen island, avoiding bumping small items that had fallen on the floor at some time or another. The room is dim despite sunlight coming in through every possible window and door. Jun accidentally hits a fallen fork that chimes and catches the clicker’s attention. The clicker makes a gasping sound and heads toward the source of the sound. Jun backs up around the kitchen island to avoid being noticed. He scurries inaudibly around the back of the island and knifes the clicker in the back of the head. It shrieks and calls to the runner in the other room, pulling it out of its statuesque position. Jun whistles loudly.

        Nino rushes in and sees Jun struggle to keep the clicker down until it dies. The runner rushes from the other room and charges at Nino. Being small and light, Nino slides along the tile floor, knocking the runner over. He climbs onto the runner’s back and wraps and wraps and arm around the runner’s neck, squeezing with his knife ready just in case. The runner struggles underneath him and flips them over.

        Despite being out of the way of the infected’s mouth, Nino calls for help. Jun, having made sure the clicker was indeed dead, rushes over and stabs a blow to the infected’s head, rendering it motionless.

        “Don’t try to strangle them, Nino. You’re not strong enough,” Jun says, huffing and full of adrenaline.

        “Don’t call me weak! If it weren’t for me, you’d be outnumbered,” Nino says, pushing the infected’s body off his own. He stands up and brushes himself off, putting his knife away.

        “I’ve dealt with more than two before, kid. I’m just trying to teach you a thing or two,” Jun replies, dragging the bodies from the house and out into the backyard.

        Nino wanders around the home looking for food and useful supplies but finds very little.

        “Some beans and some canned peaches are all I could find that was still good,” Nino says, watching Jun lock up the house so they’d be safe for the night.

        “That’s fine, we’ve had worse,” Jun replies. He heads upstairs and looks around. He settles in the master bedroom and heads to the attached bathroom. He sees the decayed body of a person in the bathtub and investigates. The smell had already dissipated and a small handgun rests on the bottom of the tub. Jun grabs it and a nearby towel and shuts the door.

        “What’s in there?” Nino asks, trying to open the closed door despite Jun standing as a roadblock.

        “A dead person, you don’t need to see that. Here, I got you a towel. Wipe your face off,” Jun says, gently moving him away from the door and placing the towel on top of Nino’s head.

        Nino smiles and wipes his face off, revealing smooth, flawless skin and a cute mole on his chin. Jun gives Nino a small smile back and wipes his own face off and sits on the edge of the bed. Nino plops down next to him, grinning.

        “What?” Jun asks.

        “Nothing, I just like when I’m clean,” Nino replies.

        “Well you’re not totally clean, just your face.”

        “So what? I feel a little clean. It’s better than nothing I suppose.”

        “Yeah. I suppose.”

        Later in the evening, Jun watches out the bedroom window which overlooks the street.

        Nino lies on the bed after having eaten some food. His stomach growls loudly but he ignores it, “What are you looking at?”

        “Just looking out,” Jun says, “We’ve got to be careful of bandits and raiders and such.”

        “Bandits?” Nino asks.

        Jun leaves the window and sits on the edge of the bed, “Yeah, I‘ve heard rumors that there are a few large gangs that hang around, loot houses and such.”

        “Well, if that’s the case, shouldn’t we be moving on from here?” Nino looks concerned.

        “Naw, we’ll be okay,” Jun says. He then decides to frighten Nino a bit, “Though we do have to be careful, because I’ve also heard that some have turned to cannibalism because people can’t eat the infected and other animals are hard to find. They’ll capture people and eat them!”

        Nino’s eyes go wide, “Eh? Then we should leave now!” He gets up and Jun just laughs.

        “While it is true what I’ve heard, I don’t think we’re in danger,” Jun says, lying down on the bed, “I’ve got a gun, only five bullets, but I’ve got one. However, we will kill with stealth as much as possible so we don’t attract infected or cannibals, okay?”

        Nino nods and crawls back onto the bed. He snuggles against Jun’s body.

        “Uhh, what are you doing?” Jun asks, a little disgusted.

        Nino blushes, “Ah, I thought we were going to sleep.”

        “There’s another bedroom, this one’s mine…” Jun says pulling away. Nino looks sad and a little scared.

        “Okay…” Nino gets up from the bed and heads to the other room across the hallway. Jun relaxes and falls asleep on the bed with his knife under the pillow just in case.

        The nights grow colder since winter is only a couple months away and Nino shivers in the small child’s bed, the thin blankets aren’t enough. He gets out of bed and heads back to Jun’s room. He stops at the door and calls to him, “Jun?” he says in a soft voice.

        “Hm?” Jun groans, “Nino, go to bed, leave me alone…”

        “I’m cold…there aren’t enough blankets…” Nino complains.

        Jun is quiet for a little bit and sighs, he lifts the sheets and blankets on the bed, “Come on, I suppose it’s safer this way… just don’t be a blanket hog…”

        Nino hurries to the bed and gets in, snuggling right against Jun. Jun hisses when Nino’s cold feet touch his, “You weren’t joking, kid!”

        “I never joke,” Nino whispers. They are both silent and fall asleep one at a time.

        In the early morning, Nino wakes up first and opens the can of peaches to eat half. Jun follows suit once he’s able to function and they sits and chat on the bed. After a nig ht of great sleep, Nino finds that Jun is more friendly and easier to talk to.

        “Satoshi and I used to just have days where we’d lay in bed and get fat on sweets and shrimp cocktail!” Nino says playfully, slurping up a piece of peach.

        Jun chuckles, “So you’re saying you were spoiled by your rich boyfriend?”

        “I’ve said that once before, right?”

        “I faintly remember, but you sure don’t look like you’ve sat and gotten fat recently.”

        Nino sticks his tongue out, “Well I’ve been starving for months, what do you expect!”

        Jun’s attention is drawn away from Nino when he hears the sound of a truck and voices.

        “Shh!” he says to Nino and slides off the bed, peeking carefully at the road from the window. Nino freezes and stares at Jun, trying to hear whatever is going on outside.

        “Fuck…we need to get out of here,” Jun says quietly, moving to stuff his bag. He slings it over his shoulder and sees Nino just staring. “What are you waiting for? Pack your shit.”

        Nino fumbles and stuffs his bag when people enter the home. Jun opens the window and hops out onto an awning, “Just hide.” Jun disappears and Nino dives under the bed and scoots himself as far back against the wall as he can. He gasps when he notices he forgot his backpack lying on the floor but it’s too late. He hears heavy footsteps and low, gruff chatting. He sees two pairs of boots walk first into the room across the hall, and then into the master bedroom.

        “Hey boss, this is fresh,” one man says with a higher, more agreeable voice. Nino sees a hand reach down to pick up the can of opened peaches. He feels the other man press down on the bed.

        “Yeah, and the bed is still warm too, someone’s in here, I can taste it,” the other man says with a low, almost scary voice. He can hear a few others downstairs through the floor.

        The man with the scary voice reaches down and picks up Nino’s backpack, dumping it out onto the floor. All non-food items are dumped including Nino’s precious Christmas sweater photo of him and his beloved Satoshi. Nino holds his breath.

        “Hah! Boss, wouldn’t it be funny if the guy were under the bed?” the agreeable man says. He man leans over and peers under the bed. He and Nino make eye contact and Nino’s eyes beg him to leave him alone, but to no avail.

        “Ah, we’ve got a little rat hiding under the bed,” the agreeable man says sinisterly, “Boss, I’ll move him your way.”

        The scary man moves to the other side of the bed while the agreeable man reaches under and tries to get Nino to move out the other direction.

        “Ah, boss, he’s pretty cute,” says the agreeable man.

        “Stop jawing and scare him outta there!” the scary man roars. Nino moves out of the way and between the wall and the bedside table. The agreeable man begins to crawl under the bed after Nino, forcing him to move forward. His arm is grabbed and he is ripped from under the bed, getting large scratches on his free arm and hip.

        “You’re right!” The scary man says, holding Nino by his arm while Nino struggles to pull free, “So how’d you survive this long, little rat?”

        Always having his knife strapped to his hips and hidden in his pants, Nino grabs the blade with his free hand and deals a deep cut to the scary man’s arm, setting him free. The man roars and calls for the agreeable man who is still trying to wedge himself out from under the bed. Adrenaline pumping, Nino runs from the man, grabs his special photo and goes down the hall to the stairs.

        “Catch that fucking kid!” the scary man yells.

        Nino rushes down the stairs to see three other men. He’s cornered and seeks an exit. He ignores the men yelling at him and thinks for a moment. A tall man stands before him. Nino takes the opportunity to use his sliding method and slides straight under the man’s legs and jabs his blade into the back of the man’s leg, earning him a few more feet closer to the door. He makes a break for the front door, bullets splitting the trim around the door, missing him by inches. Nino makes it out and looks back as he runs to see Jun step in the doorway and shoot the gunman dead where he stands.

        The other men put their hands up as they had no guns, just melee weapons.

        Nino stops in awe of Jun’s actions.

        “You leave us alone or I’ll fucking kill you both,” Jun snarls. He slams the door shut, as a courtesy, and runs to Nino. He grabs Nino’s arm, urging him to run.

        “We’ve gotta get out of here, kid…” Jun says. His voice is severe. They run across the street and into the woods behind a row of cookie-cutter houses. Afraid that the bandits, despite Jun’s warning, would come after them and skin them alive, they move quickly through the woods, getting as deep as possible, walking on areas that would not leave tracks from their rugged shoes. After a few hours of fast walking and jogging, they stop to collect themselves.

        Nino gasps for air as he is not used to such exercise. He sits down against a tree and focuses on breathing. Jun squints to see if there is anything in the distance and there is not.

        Jun disappears deeper into the woods, leaving Nino behind. Nino immediately tries to follow Jun , afraid of being left alone, “Jun?”

        “Over here,” Jun says. He stands in front of a tall tower fastened to a tree. “We’ll stay here tonight since we’ve already wasted a day running from those fucking cannibals.”

        Nino finds Jun and walks to the tower, still trying to catch his breath, “Oh…so we have to climb it then?”

        “Well yeah, I’ll help you, so don’t worry. Also, put your knife away, you won’t need it for a while,” Jun says softly, tossing his bag up to the top. The bag barely makes it. Nino is happy that Jun is taking care of him. Before sending Nino up the ladder, he stops him and examines the scratch on his arm. He sighs and pats Nino’s butt to get him moving up the ladder.

        “You’re a real liability, kid,” Jun says chuckling.

        Nino begins to climb and is nervous about the height, “I’m not a liability, I practically saved myself!”

        “Yeah, you’re right. Until I shot the gunman dead.”

        Nino scoffs and makes it to the top with Jun right behind him. He sits in a spot that he feels safe and looks at the picture of him and Satoshi. Jun sits next to him, his back against the tree, “So you managed to take that cheesy photo before almost getting killed?” Jun asks.

        “Of course, it’s the only possession worth keeping I’ve got left,” Nino says. He sighs lightly and scoots next to Jun. Jun hesitates again from the closeness, but lets it be. Nino shivers a bit and Jun digs in his bag. He pulls out a thin sweater and hands it to Nino.

        “So your bag is gone, I guess we’ll have to share for a while until we find you a new one, hm?” Jun says gently. He seems to get more and gentler with Nino each week. Nino slips the sweater over his shoulders and leans against Jun.

        Jun gets a chill from some wind and wishes he had two sweaters.

        “We can share,” Nino says, staring up at Jun with an innocent stare.

        “We can’t possibly fit in one little sweater, dumbass,” Jun says harshly, but all in fun. Nino smiles and moves. He sits between Jun’s legs, resting his chest against Jun’s, curling his arms in to fit better.

        “Can I stay here?” Nino asks. Jun hides a blush and just chuckles. Since Jun doesn’t push him away, Nino stays. “Thank you, Jun,” Nino says quietly against Jun’s chest. He closes his eyes and without a response from Jun after a long while, falls asleep.

        Enjoying the warmth from Nino’s body and the sweater, Jun wraps his arms around Nino and sighs lightly with a slight smile.

        “Stupid kid…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you're all enjoying this story! This is an insanely fun genre to write in!  
> Comments are love :D


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